by Dick Hall-Sizemore
John Butcher’s recent article on the relationship of SOL reading scores and funding per pupil prompted me to examine the most recent (2022) 3rd grade reading scores of students in Henrico County, where I live. The scores for disadvantaged students, particularly Black students, are awful.
I decided to present my findings to the school board and confront them with the failure of the schools they oversee. However, at their meeting this past week, I had only three minutes to speak. I do not talk fast enough to get much said in three minutes. Accordingly, I have sent them copies of the prepared remarks set out below. I do not have hope for much of a response.
To: Henrico County School Board
From: Richard W. Hall-Sizemore
I regret that I was not able to finish my remarks at your last meeting. That 3 minutes went fast! Obviously, I talk slowly.
I am a long-time resident of Henrico County. My daughter went through Henrico County Schools and got a good education. My wife taught for several years in the system’s PRIME program.
It is an important subject that I wanted to talk about; therefore, I am submitting my thoughts in writing.
I want to talk about the most basic function of schools—teaching kids to read. Without the ability to read, all the advanced and diverse programs the schools may offer will be of no use.
Henrico County Public Schools are failing a large group of the county’s children on this most basic function.
My frame of reference is the 2022 SOL passing rates for the third-grade reading test. I get the impression that educators consider third grade a critical year. If a child cannot read at grade level at third grade, the hopes for success in his school career are dim. It is very hard to catch up from that point.
Because I was interested in the “regular” students, I used the filter function on the Virginia Dept. of Education’s “build a report” tool to eliminate the following groups of students from my analysis: English learners, migrants, homeless, militarily connected, foster care, and disabled. I hasten to say that this does not mean that I think these groups of students are unimportant and deserve no consideration. Far from it. However, including them in the analysis would skew the results for what I was looking.
I did use the tool to compare advantaged students with disadvantaged students. Just to remind you: “disadvantaged” is defined as students eligible for free/reduced meals or TANF or Medicaid. In other words, “disadvantaged” is a euphemism for “poor kids.”
The pass rate (percent getting a passing score) on the 2022 SOL Third grade reading test in Henrico County:
- Disadvantaged—58
- Advantaged—87
In stark terms, that means more than 4 out of 10 poor third graders could not read at the third grade level.
Remember that the “cut levels” (the score denoting the passing level) was lowered several years ago. Therefore, under the former criteria, the pass rates would have been lower.
Breaking the data down by race, the picture is even bleaker:
- Disadvantaged Black students—48
- Disadvantaged White students—76
About one-fourth of the poor white kids could not read at third-grade level. That is alarming, but more than half the poor Black kids could not read at third-grade level. MORE THAN HALF!
The pass rates vary among schools, as you would imagine. I am not going to name specific schools, but, as board members, you likely know which ones had poor scores. Generally, in a lot of the elementary schools, less than 50 percent of poor white kids got a passing score. Even worse, in several schools, the pass rate of poor Black kids was in the 30s. That means two-thirds of the poor Black kids in those schools could not read at the third-grade level!
I realize that the 2021-2022 school year was the first full year back after the COVID closings and that was a somewhat chaotic year, with students obviously behind in their learning. But COVID and problematic distancing learning were not the fault of the students. We should not just shrug and say, “that was just after COVID, so we can’t put too much weight on those scores.” Those scores reflect an increased number of poor Black kids that are now behind grade level in their reading ability. I hope Henrico County schools went to extra levels to try to compensate these students for what they had missed. Unfortunately, the third-grade SOL seems to be the last time reading specifically is tested. Therefore, we won’t be able to tell how much help any compensatory measures made.
In any event, Henrico school officials should not feel smug by citing COVID as the reason for the low pass rates. The pass rates pre-COVID were not very good, either. In 2019, the pass rate on the third-grade reading test for poor Black students was 57. That is certainly better than the rate of 48 in 2022, but it still meant that more than four in ten students were reading at below grade level. The pass rate for poor white students was 79, only marginally better than the 76 achieved in 2022.
I find this situation unacceptable. I hope that you do, as well.
What to do?
Frequently, there is a call for more money. Although I am a firm believer that teachers are not paid enough for what they are worth, money is not the answer for this issue. There is readily available data that shows there is no correlation between the amount spent per pupil and the SOL reading pass rate.
Furthermore, there are jurisdictions in the Commonwealth that are less affluent than Henrico in which poor Black students achieved “good” pass rates:
- Campbell County—70
- Gloucester County—73
- King and Queen County—80
- Pittsylvania County—72
- Sussex County—69
Looking at the pass rates of all disadvantaged students, these localities scored well:
- Bland County—70
- Botetourt County—92
- Carroll County—80
- Craig County—75
- Pittsylvania County—81
- Wise County—81
The pass rate in all these instances was higher than that in Henrico.
There is a consortium of mostly rural school districts, the Comprehensive Instructional Program, that has achieved remarkable success. The group originally consisted of jurisdictions in Southwest Virginia, but has expanded to include 49 school districts. The standardized test scores of students in consortium schools have consistently been as high, or higher than, those of students in large urban and suburban districts.
One approach the districts in the Consortium has adopted has been to identify the strongest districts in their membership and the weakest and then have officials from the two groups get together to identify what teachers in the strong districts were doing that worked and the extent to which those methods could be adopted or adapted by other districts.
Perhaps the Henrico School system could use this approach, with teachers in schools that had stronger scores for disadvantaged students meeting with the teachers in schools with lower scores and sharing what methods they have found that work. The district could go even further afield and contact one of those other districts that had a higher pass rate for disadvantaged students, Pittsylvania County, for example, to ascertain what that district was doing with success.
Another action the Board should take is to examine how reading is being taught. There is a growing national consensus that the old way—phonics—is the most effective way to teach reading. This consensus is based on cognitive research into how young brains best learn. Do Henrico teachers in kindergarten, first, and second grades use phonics to teach reading? If not, why not? What would be needed to get them to switch to phonics?
The students from poor households have enough obstacles in their paths. Being able to read will equip them to better deal with those obstacles. That should be the most urgent focus of this Board and school system.
Thank you for your time.
